Shared Governance

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We have shared governance at the medical center where I work. We have monthly hour-long shared governance meetings on our unit and then our ideas move up the chain of command to (hopefully) become practice, hence the purpose of shared governance. However, we have chronically low turn out at our monthly meetings and therefore are struggling to get things done. Any ideas on how we could increase the attendance at our meetings? We meet at 1pm on the second Tuesday of the month. We have already tried meeting in the evenings and had even worse attendance then. At our last mandatory staff meeting we had the hospital-wide Shared Governance chair come speak with the staff to explain what Shared Governance is all about and we still had only 5 people at our meeting today. We have a staff of at least 40 nurses and 10 CNAs on our 32 bed Cardiovascular Care Unit who work 7a-7p or 7p-7a either full time, part time, or per diem. Any and all input would be appreciated, we are passionate about the power shared governance gives us as practitioners and want our co-workers to see the difference they can make in the way we practice medicine.

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Having the meetings at 1 pm means you're entirely eliminating the night shift staff; that's like scheduling a meeting at 0100 for the day shift. Try making them closer to change of shift; if evening didn't work, maybe in the am. Also, do people actually believe anything will come of the meetings? Is management responsive to staff input? If people don't feel like their input matters they won't come to the meetings. Shared governance has to actually be practiced, not just a buzzword.

If I were you, I would scheduled several meetings. Once at night before the night shift comes in (at 10:00 or 9:30 PM), one after day shift gets off (like at 3:00 or 3:30, as I highly doubt people want to come in at 6:00 AM instead), and one before evening shift comes in at like 1:30 or 2:00. And offer more than one day, so if someone has a long commute, they don't have to come in solely for a half hour meeting.

We've found 0730 is the best time for good turnout, this means getting coverage for a few hours for your day shifter's if they are scheduled to work that day. 1700 works well also, so long as you can cover the end of the shift for day shifters working that day.

Although regardless of time you need buy in from the Nursing staff. Practice councils need to have direct ability to affect practice, it can't be something where they propose something that still has to go through a process where it essentially loses the bedside influence.

I appreciate the quick responses. Our manager directly attends our shared governance meetings and is extremely open to change, we are truly blessed. The only reason we don't currently offer multiple time slots is because we have 1 chair and 1 co-chair for the committee (one who works days and 1 who works nights) and we are having a hard time finding times where they are both available multiple times a month. As far as the night shift attending the 1pm meetings, our manager will ensure that anyone who works nights and wants to be involved in shared governance can be off the night before and the night of the meeting. However, it really put it into perspective for me when you said "that's like having a meeting at 0100 for day shift" I never would have looked at it that way. I feel like the largest reason we lack participation is r/t unwillingness to change in the staff as a whole, not in management. We are considering trying the meetings the hour before our mandatory monthly staff meetings as an alternative.

Our monthly staff meetings our lead by our manager. She commonly mentions changes in practice that we are planning to trial for 30 days that shared governance decided on. She also updates us on safety issues, changes in the medical center as a whole, etc.

Good point about "would a 1am meeting be easier to attend." Well no, of course not! Thank you for the night POV

When I worked night shift, I tried to keep a regular sleep schedule. I also had a long commute. A 1pm meeting in the middle of a day regardless of whether or not I work is still disincentive enough for me. I'd have stayed an hour late or come in an hour early over a huge chunk in the middle of my sleeping time.

We are having a hard time even getting SG up and running on our unit! People want change to happen, but don't want to participate in making the change. They say leadership's involvement at the meetings is why they don't come, but leadership are the ONLY ones that attend. We've tried different avenues, a discussion board on our Blackboard site, informal meetings. ANYTHING, and no one bites. As a fairly new member of the leadership team, but having worked here for several years, I really hope that this can take off. I fear that we will continue to have burn out if folks don't start taking ownership in our unit.
We've found that in the past a 0730/0800 start time typically works, but we have a hard time getting our weekend shift group to come in during the week.
As we're trying to revamp this whole group anyway, does anyone have feedback on setting 2 meetings/month versus 1? Does everyone come to both? Is there progress or is the 1st meetings material rehashed? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!!!

At the risk of sounding crass - What is in it for the nurses? I know you have given them all the platitudes about SG, but in order to increase participation you have to make it meaningful for each one of them on a much more personal basis. For instance, if you have a career ladder, do they get 'points'/'credits' for SG participation? Is there some other form of meaningful acknowledgement for participation? What types of things would be valuable? Recognition?

Full disclosure -- I am a really (really, really, really) "experienced" nurse who has experienced many different nursing trends. This has made me very cynical. Even in the most effective SG environments, the people who become very involved in the committee work are those who tend to gravitate toward management roles no matter what the environment. The true 'rank & file' nurses will do what they are asked (if compensated for it) but do not wish to assume any extra responsibilities. They want to leave work at work. I can't argue with that.

We have shared governance at the medical center where I work. We have monthly hour-long shared governance meetings on our unit and then our ideas move up the chain of command to (hopefully) become practice, hence the purpose of shared governance. However, we have chronically low turn out at our monthly meetings and therefore are struggling to get things done. Any ideas on how we could increase the attendance at our meetings? We meet at 1pm on the second Tuesday of the month. We have already tried meeting in the evenings and had even worse attendance then. At our last mandatory staff meeting we had the hospital-wide Shared Governance chair come speak with the staff to explain what Shared Governance is all about and we still had only 5 people at our meeting today. We have a staff of at least 40 nurses and 10 CNAs on our 32 bed Cardiovascular Care Unit who work 7a-7p or 7p-7a either full time, part time, or per diem. Any and all input would be appreciated, we are passionate about the power shared governance gives us as practitioners and want our co-workers to see the difference they can make in the way we practice medicine.

I have been a part of my unit's shared governance. I asked prior to joining if it was an effective tool for growth or one long grief session.(our meetings are 3 hours long) Also, we have to be elected or asked to join; it is not opened to the entire unit. Our leadership is not supposed to weigh in on any issues but simply to observe. However, I am hearing feedback that only certain opinions are being entertained but other opinions have actually caused one member to be asked to leave the group. Needless to say,I left the group after a few months. I am a person of strong opinions and not always the opinions of the rest of the group. My bottom line has always been about what would help the nurses on the unit perform their job most efficiently with the least amount of stress. Perhaps, having a small turn out is not so bad; it is easier to discuss the opinions of all that attends. Best of luck to you in forming the best shared governance group that can affect change.

The skepticism in SG is well warranted. It's been around since the early 80's yet rarely lasts longer than a few years at any facility. Those that do survive long term tend not to follow the traditional model, they assert their scope of practice (and influence) rather than constantly waiting to be asked for input on various issues, they set the expectation that they will be a part of any decision making process that affects Nursing practice and punish those who don't acknowledge their role. To be effective though, this assertiveness needs to be tempered with collaboration, actively involve all the shareholders in decision making; management, Physicians, assistive personnel, etc. Otherwise, SG tends to be nothing more than a glorified party planning committee, which then loses support of staff Nurses and loses it's own members due to low morale and a feeling of impotence.

To the OP, you sound like you're off to a good start, one thing I would be careful of however is having your manager speak for your council. Too often SG is seen by staff as nothing more than a puppet government for administration, having your manager speak for you will only reinforce this.